ClaySpace

Written by Clay Maas & Phil Wilson

Winter Issue '24 - Online Shop

Tucked into an unassuming building on Barlow Street, a hub of the artistic community in Traverse City is thriving. On any given day at ClaySpaceTC, you’ll find one or both of us, Clay Maas and Phil Wilson, teaching groups of enthusiastic adults or youngsters to throw a mug, or a cereal bowl, or how best to slip and score together a woven ceramic basket. Students drop by to participate in studio time (a way to practice outside of class,) putting finishing touches on pieces or applying colorful oxides and glazes, or giving advice to the other potters who are working beside them. The community is generous with knowledge and techniques. Students share the combinations of glazes that yielded good results, or the best way to roll out skinny snakes of clay without it getting crumbly, or share inspiration from art fairs or the stacks of ceramic books and magazines the studio keeps on hand. There’s a lot of laughter over all of the pottery mishaps that happen as they learn, like bowls that go splat on the wheel or sagging cookie jars, and lasting friendships are built just as frequently as platters, or vases, or sculptures. 

Seeing this thriving community today is especially impressive when you know where we started. Phil often says, “We bend and stretch.” And the early days of ClaySpaceTC were filled with a lot of bending and stretching. We were both professional potters when we started ClaySpaceTC and we knew a whole lot about making and selling pottery—but not so much about running a community studio. Phil was already a seasoned potter and teacher, and he now brings over forty years of experience to his classes. Clay’s teaching experience prior to starting ClaySpaceTC was primarily with youngsters in after school and summer camp programs, as well as programs for teenagers he ran at BlackBird Arts. Now, his experience has expanded, working with and around clay for twelve years. But still, neither of us had experience in the day-to-day running and managing of a community pottery studio when we decided to open one!

Even though setting out to create a pottery studio was a new endeavor for us, we didn’t have to completely build our community from scratch. As BlackBird Arts, a beloved space for makers of all sorts, was closing in 2019, their established community found themselves without a home. The twenty folks who had spent seven years creating there were worried that the strong artistic bonds they had built might disband along with BlackBird Arts itself. Thankfully, the folks who had thrived at BlackBird Arts found a new home for their creative pursuits at ClaySpaceTC, and in those early days at ClaySpaceTC, this community filled in around us.

Everyone truly rallied together to get the studio through that first 8-week class session. Volunteers would donate toilet paper and paper towels. Folks came to mop the floors and help us navigate the complicated task of starting a business. Classes were adjusted, tweaked, and moved based on community feedback and to accommodate the changing landscape of the studio. Clay's continuous enthusiasm for trying new things and testing new changes was, and still is, balanced by Phil’s steady understanding of how good things are now, in the present moment. We are a combination of the experience and wisdom of a life well lived, blended with the blind enthusiasm of youth, and somehow this combined with the dedicated community was the perfect mix to make this project work. The community energy to keep “this pottery thing” going was, and continues to be the driving force behind ClaySpaceTC. 

We also want to mention the constant support provided to us Melissa Johnson, who founded BlackBird Arts. After managing her own studio for eight years and developing extensive relationships with many organizations and individuals looking for artistic enrichment, she was the perfect person to provide expert advice on this new endeavor. We leaned on Melissa for help the whole first year—including renting the building from her! Her experience in setting up classes, managing a space, and cultivating a creative community laid the foundation for what ClaySpaceTC is now. We continue to be extremely grateful for Melissa's guidance and counsel during the beginning of ClaySpaceTC.

After that first year, things were going well for us at ClaySpaceTC. Word about the studio on Barlow was spreading, and we grew from single sessions of twenty or so adults to needing to provide more and more class sessions, so more people could attend. The number of artists taking classes was creeping up steadily as we headed toward the spring session of 2020—but as all of us now know, the spring session of 2020 was not to be.

We hit the ground running as soon as they were able to hold classes again. As the pandemic saddled other places with complicated adaptations, our classes were a natural fit for the change in climate. Our classes were already small, capped at six participants and one instructor. The studio already had to be kept clean and tidy, as clay dust can cause illness when not managed properly. Most importantly, there was already a committed community ready to help in any way they could, eager to make pottery and excited to reconnect, safely, with other creative people.

So, classes resumed and everything went into overdrive. The number of people working at ClaySpaceTC has tripled since the pre-pandemic days. Six adult classes were required to meet community interest, then eight, then ten. Now, ClaySpaceTC runs thirteen adult classes, three hand building classes and ten wheel throwing classes! And more are added frequently, in an attempt to connect as many people with pottery as possible. As adult classes expanded, so did classes for young people. 

ClaySpaceTC is now growing fast enough that the community can’t be contained by the walls of the Barlow St. studio. Building off of another relationship cultivated by Melissa and Blackbird Arts, we were able to work with Arts 4 All, an organization that is greatly missed in our community. Arts 4 All brought experiences with clay and other media into many area special education classrooms. In order to continue to provide these enriching experiences, Phil will be making 60 visits to special education and other classrooms now made possible by Northwest Education Services (formerly TBAISD) throughout the school year. 

Clay will also be venturing out into the community, hosting classes at nine different bars and hangout locations throughout our area from December until April, including at The Little Fleet and Workshop Brewing. ClaySpaceTC is also creating new relationships and connections in the community, partnering with CommonGrounds Coop to host our monthly family handbuilding class. 

Both Phil and Clay love to be out in the community, but still, the heart of ClayspaceTC is in the Barlow St. studio, a true home for creativity and expression. Try-it-Wheel nights started as a way to create quick, positive, and engaging experiences for people who were curious about clay and working on the wheel. A class that started out being offered one night a month has now blossomed into a must-do experience for so many. It’s now offered twice a month, or about twenty-five times a year, with classes selling out over six months in advance. 

A studio is only as good as the humans who take part in it. The uncountable hours of time and late nights, followed by early mornings, that we have spent creating the studio are in service to the students who make ClaySpaceTC such an incredible place to make art, create community, and spend time. ClaySpaceTC has become a cherished third place for so many. A place where it doesn't matter if you're walking into the studio with no experience, or 30 years on the wheel, you feel welcome. You can walk into the studio any day of the week and find a collection of humans who are ready to help and support each other, both in pottery and in life, and to gather to be creative. Each individual teacher or student helps to create a vibrant collective, filling the studio with creativity, passion, excitement, and the relaxation that only the quiet beauty of clay can bring. Join us—we can’t wait to welcome you to join the ClaySpaceTC community! January 2025 classes are now open for registration.

BIO

Passion for ceramics sparked for Clay Mass during his final year of college, and that passion has been burning ever since. He grew up in a small Ohio town and now resides in Traverse City with his wife Emily, their daughter Wren, and their buoyant doodle Lincoln (who is also the mascot of ClaySpaceTC). He loves ClaySpaceTC because it allows him to grow every day and share his love of ceramics with others.

For 40 years, Phil Wilson worked with porcelain as a studio potter, developing functional and decorative pottery with an emphasis on contemporary design and elegant utility. Each piece is handmade, one at a time. Phil is hoping you’ll discover lots of ways to enjoy each piece: displayed with a group of favorite things on the mantel, as a familiar part of your everyday breakfast table, or surrounded by a riot of flowers and food in a party buffet.

Winter Issue '24 - Online Shop